Mop truck



Dec. 11,, 1923. I 1,476,961

W. S. FINNELL MOP TRUCK Filed May 26. 1920 2 Sheets-Shoat 1 Dec. 11 1923. 1,476,961

. w. s. FINNELL AM a Patented Dec. 11,

, UNITED 1,47 ,961 PATENT OFFICE.

AL E rmise' ntr cn'xceeef.1LnI o ,..ess e 0i-r e teammates- Ee rrMEnr COMPANY, or QHlCQQ-Q l nruors, is. COEBOEATIQN OF DEL W RE;

. MOP TRUCK.

Application m May 26,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lrnown that I, WALTER S. FINNELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements :inrMop Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of the presentJinventionare to improve the general inake-upipf a mop truck so as to facilitate the putting on. and removal [of the pails'and also facilitate the handling of the mop when dipping it into the clean water pail and removing it therefrom; toprovide-for the passing of the mop fromthe clean water pail to the wringer without permitting water todrop from it onto the floor; to provide :for keeping the mopcout of the dirty water in the otherspail when-it is beingsubjected to the actionof'the 'Wringer; and to provide for a wide range of adjustment of the wringerto suit different sizes of mops.

In the, accompanyin drawings I which form part of this .speci 'cation "Fig. 1 is. a perspective viewo-f a mopfitruckl embodying my present invention; Fig flis a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a different adjustment of one ofthe wringer rollers from that shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section ofthe moptruck; and Fig. i is a partial end elevation.

The reference numeral 2' designates the metal angle barsfformingthe sides'fof the base of the frame of-the truck, and 3 designates similar end bars and E 4 designates cross-bars, and 5 designates wooden slats extending lengthwise of this frame base and secured to the Tendanglebarsand to the cross-bars't. ,At thelfront end the base is supported on swivelcastersfi and at the rear on wheels 7 ,journaled on -a cross. rod or shaft 8 secured to theundersides of the angle bars 2. The reference numeral 9 designates a wooden-blocksecured to one cornerofthe baseand serving as afoot-rest'for steadying the truck when the wringer is being operated. Uprights in the form of metalangle bars 10 rise from the rear corners of the base and other uprights in the form of metal angle bars 11 are bolted to-the base side bars 2 near the frontends of the latter and incline away from the front of the truck. Upper side bars 12 connect the uprights 10 and 11,-: e ns lso maideof metal ang e, n on top of these upper side bars are bolted a 1929. s nsin 384,396.

pair of angular metal cross pieces 13, one of which is located atthe rear ofthe frame and the other of which is located a distance back fromthe front end of the said top sidebars 12. The wringer is mounted between these upper cross pieces as presently described.-

The frame is preferably stiffened at its rear endby cross braces 14:bolted to the corner *uprlghts 10 and to each other where they cross.

A pan orbasin 15 issuspended from the 'topiof the frame'below the cross pieces 13,

being flanged to engage over the tops of the side bars 12 and conveniently clamped by the same bolts which secure said cross pieces to saiolside bars. This pan or basin is made of galvanized sheet metal and the sheets forming the four sides thereof are flanged and united to form a hopper-likemarginal' portion of the bottom of the basin. "The comparatively large central opening left by these sloping bottom flanges 15* is covered by agrillc 16 secured against the undersides of said flanges. The bottom of the basin isat such an elevation as to provide for thereadyintroduction and removal of the pail for the dirty waterwrung from the mop.

In use the dirty waterpa'il A will be placed directly below the grille of the basin, the purpose of which is to permit the free flow of the dirty water squeezed from the mop C (Fig. '3) into the pail while'keeping the mo 9 itself out of the dirty waterinthe pail. t will be noted-that the widely'open character of the frame at its sides-facilitates the ready introduction of the pail and its removal.

The clean Water pail B is put on at the front free around the greater portion of the top 7 part of the pail while at the same time the pail will be so far between the uprights as to prevent its accidentally shifting position sidewise and falling ofi the truck.

It will be understood that for the purposes of rinsing the mop it will be dipped into the clean water pail and then passed to the wringer. In such case it is desirable that any dripfrom the mop shall be prevented from reaching the floor. I therefore arrangea guard or shield in the space between the wringer and that part of the truck occupied by the clean water pail. This I make out of a sheet of galvanized metal flanged to engage over the forward portions of the top side bars 12,rbeing secured thereto by screws 20. The guard or shield comprises a fiat portion 21- having a bead which lies closely adjacent the forward cross piece 13, said portion 21 extending downward on a sharp inclination to a point between the inclined uprights 11 and over the area occupied by the clean water pail The shield has sides-22 with forward edges inclined to correspond with the-inclination of said uprights l1, and itis formed with a substantially vertical transverse portion 23 of concavo-convex form, being re-entrant with'respect to the sloping portion 21. This formation of the guard or shield provides for substantial'conforinity with the circle of the top of the pail when the latter is properly positioned, and it will be seen that a mop dipped in the pail can be drawn out over the shield to thewringer without dripping onto the floor,,any water falling from themop during this procedure being caught by-the shield and conducted back to the clean water pail. The aforesaid head is here shown as formed by bending an extension of the adjacent side of the basin 15 over the upper edge of the guard plate 2l-as at 15*.

Referring now to the wringer,vwhich as before stated is mounted between thercross pieces 13, the numerals 30 and 31 designate the wringer rollers, the former of which is plain and the latter corrugated, and 32 designates arocker piece which is journaled in appropriate openings near the ends of the cross pieces and the operation of which by throwing its handle back and forth opens and closes the wringer in a well known manner. Thus the rocker piece has end arms 33 which cross center and are connected with springs 34 that embrace the journal rod or axle of the roller 30. The uprights and relatively high flanges of the angle cross pieces 13 are slotted longitudinally and metal heads 35 for the said roller 30 and in which its journal rod turns, are formed with ribs 36 which fit the slots 13 and slide back and forth in them when the handle of the rocker piece is worked. The other wringer roller 7 31 is secured to a journal rod 37 which turns in metal heads 38 also to lit in the slots of but this other and provided with ribs 39 the cross piece flanges, corrugated roller is to occupy a fixed position, the wringer-operating crank 39 being fastened to its journal rod. It will of course be understood that the swinging outwardly of the handle of the rocker piece carries the roller 30 away from the roller 31 and opens up a wide space for the receipt of the mop, and that when said handle is swung inwardly and down the mop is squeezed between the two rollers so that when the crank is turned the mop will be properly wrung.

Mops vary a good deal in size and character and so it becomes necessary to provide for varying the relationship between the rollers to suit different conditions. To meet this situation I provide for four adjust-- ments of the roller 31 in the slots of the cross pieces; thus in the bottoms of the slots I provide square notches 40, two for each slot, and spaced apart to provide for two different settings ofthe roller. Then on the underside of each of the ribs 39 of the roller heads 38 I provide a lug 42 located to one side of the center of the roller. By this expedient I provide for doubling the number of adjustments of the roller, for it will be seen that by reversin the heads, i. e., interchanging them, the Tugs 42 will come on opposite sides of the center from what they were before and consequently when engaged with the notches will differently locate the roller. As illustrated in Fig. 1 the lugs are forward of the center of the roller and engage with the notches further back and this setting is suitable for the largest mops. In Fig. 2 the other extreme is illustrated, the lugs being engaged with the other pair of notches and the roller heads having been reversed or interchanged so as to bring the lugs on the opposite side of the center. Obviously two intermediate adjustments of the roller are provided for, one of which would be established by engaging the lugs with the forward pair of notches as the structure is viewed in Fig. 1, the lugs being on the forward side of the center of the roller, whereas the remaining adjustment will be established by engaging the lugs of the reversed or interchan ed heads with the other pair of notches, re erring to the Fig. 2 illustration. It will be noted that these adjustments are not at the will of the user of the truck, but that the appropriate adjustment will be established in the assemblage of the parts,given the size and character of the mop to be used.

I claim:

1. A mop truck comprising an open-sided frame adapted to carry pails in tandem, an elevated wringer basin over that portion of the frame which holds one of the pails, said basin having an open work bottom and a roller wringer mounted above said basin so that the mop passing down through the wringer may descend a distance within the basin and be received upon the open Work bottom thereof.

2. A mop truck comprising an open-sided frame. adapted to carry pails in tandem, a wringer mounted over that division of the frame which contains one of the pails, and a shield between the wringer and the division of the frame which contains the other pail over which shield the mop passes from the latter to the wringer.

3. A mop truck comprising an open-sided frame adapted to carry pails in tandem, a wringer mounted over that division of the frame which contains one of the pails, and a shield extending obliquely between the wringer and the other. division of the frame and concaved toconform to the clean water pail therein.

4:. A mop truck comprising a frame base and corner uprights and side and cross top bars, the uprights at one end extending obliquely to give free access to a pail resting on the base between them, the frame being entirely open at this end for the placing on and removal of the pail, and fully open at the side for the putting in and taking out of another pail; and also comprising a wringer mounted between cross bars of the frame over the division of the frame which holds said pail, and a basin suspended from the top of the frame below the wringer and having an openwork bottom.

5. The combination with a pair of longitudinally slotted frame bars having notches opening into the slots; of a wringer roller and interchangable bearing heads therefor each having an off-center lug adapted to selectively engage a notch of either of the bars.

WALTER S. FINNELL. 

